The family have been left devastated after her death and say they are unable to clean her tiny fingerprints off the windows and TV

Paul, who reopened his former Flamin’ 7s Tattoo Parlour in Merthyr as Pearl’s Tattoo Emporium at the weekend, said: “I’ve had people helping me refurbish the shop and I’ve laughed quite a bit, but I knew I was going to come down with a crash.

“That happens every day – the guilt I felt for forgetting her for one second.”

Gemma said memories of Pearl surround them and are a painful reminder of her sudden death.

She said: “She’s everywhere. You open a drawer and there’s a sock there or a hair bow – and it’s lovely, but it’s that realisation that she’s not here and she’s not going to put that sock on again or need that hair bobble.”

Paul and Gemma said the support of friends, family and the wider community who have wrapped their arms around the couple showering them with love and comfort has proven a priceless gift.

“We’re incredibly lucky we’ve got such good friends and family, they’re propping us up,” said Gemma.

“I find it quite cathartic to write things down and they bought me a beautiful book that they had handmade for us with beautiful pearls on it.

“We’ve come home and there has been food parcels on or doorstep.

“We’ve had notes saying just in case you don’t want to go out accompanied by practical things like washing up liquid and babies’ nappies.”

Paul added: “Our 10-year-old nephew George’s mates put their pocket money together came round with a big bunch of flowers and a large bar of Dairy Milk Oreo, handed it to me and said ‘chocolate makes everybody feel better’.”

Thousands of pounds has been raised by a community eager to show their love and support for the family.

Gemma said: “At first we wondered why people were fundraising, but we realised it’s all because people want to do something, they want to help and we’ve been overwhelmed by their support and can’t thank people enough.

Dozens of mourners lined the streets to say goodbye to baby Pearl who was crushed to death by a 4X4

“They want to ease our burden and it really has helped. It’s helped so much.”

Part of the money from the online Just Giving fundraising page has been donated to a memorial garden at Llwydcoed Crematorium, while some has been used to allow Paul to reopen his rebranded tattoo emporium in memory of Pearl.

Paul said: “We just felt hopeless. We thought what do you do with the thousands of pounds people have raised. But it’s going to be Pearl’s legacy and hopefully Ace’s future.

“It was formerly called Flamin’ 7s and was black and red and very goth-like, but now everything is very clinical and white.

“And there will be one huge picture of Pearl up on the wall with a candle below it that I will light every day when I go in and extinguish every night when I leave.

“It’s going to be all about the tattoos and creating a legacy for Pearl. We’ve changed the name to Pearl’s Tattoo Emporium featuring Ace tattoo removal, because we’re going into tattoo removals as well.”

Paul, a former musician and singer who appeared on TV’s The Voice, has put performing behind him and is focusing all his energies now into making this a family business and both Paul and Gemma said it’s definitely given them something to look forward to.

The youngsters death shocked the community, who have rallied around the family in support

“It’s also given us a future. We’ve been finding it very difficult to see a future as it’s very hard to comprehend that Pearl isn’t going to be part of our future.”

The couple who have been together for 12 years, married in 2015 when Gemma was pregnant with Pearl.

Their little girl would have celebrated her second birthday on September 28, but they couldn’t face the prospect of being home as the first birthday without her loomed and spent four days in Marbella.

Paul said: “We went there for our honeymoon and Pearl was in Gemma’s belly then nice and safe.

“We needed to runaway, we didn’t want to be here. It would have been too much.”

In a heartbreaking tribute to their daughter, Paul and Gemma had described Pearl as “every single star in every single sky, she was as bright as the stars.”

Pearl’s funeral was held in August, with a horse drawn procession winding its way from the Black’s home to the church three miles away, with people lining the route wishing to pay their respects to the little girl.

Paul said: “She was so intelligent, so clever, and so funny. That is why I wanted an extravagant send off because I always said she was going to be a star.

A mourner’s emotional message, paying tribute to the little tot who was destined to be a star

“She would have been a famous mathematician, scientist, actress, whatever she would have wanted to do, she would have been brilliant at it.”

The images of Paul carrying his daughter into the church and kissing the casket broke everyone’s hearts.

He said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of anyone or anything as I was of Pearl that day.

“Even in that little white casket I was proud of her. I’m still proud of her every day and I’ve learned to love her a little more. She was our superstar.

“I was the first one to pick her up, I was the first one to hold her and I wanted to be the last one to hold her.”

Gemma added: “I wanted to write the eulogy because I wanted it to be my words and Paul wanted to carry her.

“It needed superhuman strength from Paul that day.”

“I was so proud to carry her,” he said. “It wasn’t the girl I left with on that fateful Sunday morning. It wasn’t her in her little Peppa coat, her Peppa jeans and her Peppa wellies, it was a different little girl in that box. Pearl had gone then. Pearl had flown to wherever paradise is.

“It was tough but also one of the proudest moments of my life, but at the same turn the most horrific moment of my life.

“I’ll never feel pain, I’ll never feel hurt as much as I’m hurting now.

“No man should ever have to see that happen to his little girl in front of his very eyes. Nothing in my life will ever be as hard as this.”